Hannan traded to Caps for Fleischmann

Scott Hannan just traded to the Washington Capitals, for forward Tomas Fleischmann.
Details to come, but I think this is a good pickup for the Avs.

*OK, back at the keyboard.
I think this is a good trade by the Avs, for a couple of reasons:
One, Fleischmann is a speedy, pretty skillful guy. Yes, he was having something of a bad season in Washington, with only four goals and 10 points in 23 games. But a change in scenery can often do wonders for guys with skill who, for one reason or another, were getting stale where they were. Knocks on Fleischmann are that he’s a bit soft and not a great defensive player. He only had 36 hits in 69 games last season, for instance.

But as long as the kid is willing to skate and push the puck and at least try defensively, the Avs will be happy to have Fleischmann and roll the dice on the skills that saw him score 23 goals and 51 points last year.

Also, the Caps tried to convert Fleischmann into more of a centerman this year, but it didn’t work out. He wasn’t good on faceoffs (42 percent) and his natural position is left wing. Going back to that spot could do wonders for his game and confidence again.

As I wrote over the summer in a final report card on Hannan, it’s not like the guy was ever a terrible player. He was uber-durable, never whined about anything and always seemed to give a good effort out there.
But we were always left with the feeling of “Is this all there is?” for a guy who signed a four-year, $18 million contract in 2007. He was supposed to be a nasty, in-your-face D-man who rocked people all over his own end.
Instead, what we often saw was just a kind of quiet, stay-at-home guy who didn’t create big ruffles anywhere. We always were waiting for that pain-in-the-neck kind of guy, like he was to Peter Forsberg in the 2004 playoffs for San Jose. But it never seemed to come. He seemed more like your basic ham-and-egger type of player, but with a filet mignon contract.

Hannan could be the kind of guy Washington really needs, as he does log heavy minutes and generally is accountable in his own end. But more and more, he didn’t fit in with the young, fast Avalanche. The puck started slowing down anytime he had it, and he adds very little offensively.

Fleischmann, like Hannan, can be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He’s making $2.6 million, but the Avs are now rid of Hannan’s $4.5 million cap hit.

Which begs the question: are the Avs below the cap floor right now? Well, according to the great numbers website, capgeek.com, they are.[1] Capgeek shows the Avs at $42.9 million, even with Fleischmann’s 2.6 and Matt Hunwick’s 1.4.
I’m absolutely atrocious with numbers, so I’ll just defer to the site for now and ask the team later if there are any cap issues. There could be some salary unaccounted for somewhere.

*A twitterer named deepfriar pointed out that Hannan’s year-to-date pro-rated portion of his contract counts toward the Avs (as does Washington’s with Fleischmann) and that could account for the Avs being just above the cap floor.

**Matt Hunwick will play tonight, by the way. And I’m told Fleischmann may play, but there are travel issues, etc., that could prevent that. We’ll see.

****I talked with Hannan a while ago as part of a conference call. He said the team came to him Tuesday afternoon about his willingness to drop his no-trade clause and go to Washington. He said he has “mixed emotions” about that, but that ultimately he decided to say yes.
He said “I have nothing bad to say about Colorado.” He said he’s excited to go to such a strong team as Washington.